


Bleak Circumstances

by Iamsuperconfused



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dark, Gen, Implied Fjorester, Vecna Won, what if
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-08-14 03:21:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20185420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iamsuperconfused/pseuds/Iamsuperconfused
Summary: Bidet Critters! This is my first fanwork for Critical Role! It's part of a Month-long challenge with the prompt- Dark AU. This is a written resume and offers different backstories on the premise of What if Vecna ascended at the end of the first campaign.





	Bleak Circumstances

**Author's Note:**

> My first language is French, so there may be some oddities in the way I write.

The world of Exandria is a much different place than you know. Here, Vecna ascended un-opposed, transforming the land around Vasselheim and beyond by his sheer existence. He became all he was meant to be: The Lord of Secrets, of Forbidden Knowledge and Magic. The query we pose today is simple: What becomes of the Mighty Nein under such bleak circumstances? 

Caleb Widowgast never comes to be. But he remains true and through: Bren Aldric Ermendrud a proud, loyal servant of the dwindling Dwendalian Empire. With the world crumbling slowly from the aftershocks of Vecna’s ascension. The Vollstreckers welcome to fiery young man in their ranks which he climbs high and fast. His strength lies in the depth of his devotion to his home, rather than his sheer power, for now. 

He remains an Evoker, specializing in bringing the purifying flames to the undead monsters and other malignant creations of Vecna and his followers. The flames carried by the Vollstreckers don’t burn bright enough to end the dark one’s corruptions and Bren is sent out in the world, to seek out the “Luftreiniger” that his masters requires: a Fiery bird that would bathe the world in a purifying light. The more he learns however, about the desired result of that plan, the more he realizes that it may bring many things to an untimely end.

The Kryn Dynasty was not spared the calamity of Vecna’s ascension. Demons and Undead roams their southern borders and inner conflicts threaten the Dynasty with nothing less than a complete collapse. The Luxon is gone and their people worries that their God abandoned them. With the Bright Beacons in the hands of Vecnites and demons, things looks Die for the Bright Queen and her subjects. 

Such conflicts are the reason why Nott The Brave never comes to be, the Goblins near Felderwin never bother to capture or enslave, driven to massacre whoever they come across by their new masters. Veth Brenatto never becomes a mother and almost lose her life when her husband’s laboratory explode during the fall of Felderwin. 

Widowed by the explosion, the young halfling woman blame the goblins and takes the hunt to their camps, ignoring the evacuation order given by the Crown Prince of the Dwendalian Empire. The goblins never seen the young halfling coming, lost in the madness brought by their Masters, she ends their chief and using what remained of her husband’s legacy, set a trap for the Goblin’s masters.

Unfortunately, the alchemical trap is not enough to kill the Demon at the head of the Goblin Hordes, a creature the goblins come to refer to as The Laughing Hand. It is enough however, to erase the mark of the demonic masters from one of its top Lieutenant. Together, they escape the maddening retaliation of the strange demon.

Yasha Nydoorin, known as Yasha the Conqueror, once under the control of the Laughing Hand, is set free when the acidic component from Veth’s trap wound her and erase the mark allowing the Demon to freely seize her mind and body. Horrified by the deeds committed by her hands, she seeks to leave Xorhas and the nearby region as quick as she possibly can.

She follows the lead and motivation of the halfling woman who freed her, seeing strength in the woman’s purpose, seeing a chance to redeem her terrible deeds by following it. She remains on the path of the Zealot, but her faith seems solely focused on Veth’s Vengeance. 

The Clay family and the others watching over the Kiln and graveyards have lost their homes, the dead overwhelming their ability to preserve their sacred home. Their lives overtaken by Necromancers at the beck and call of Vecna, who seek to corrupt these places to gain power over the material plane.

Mollymauk Tealeaf wakes from the grave. A family of Firbolgs staring down at him with anger and disapprobation. His lack of memories is what saves him from their immediate wrath, as they brought him back to life to learn more about the group that had been ransacking tombs, opening the way for more desecration from Vecnites. 

He follows the family around in their quests for Justice, at the insistence of family. They seem to think his answers will come when he’s ready to hear them. The Clay aren’t particularly fond of his uncommon abilities, but one of their members seems unphased, saying he wouldn’t have them without reasons, readily accepting them as tools in their hunts. 

When the firbolgs split from each other, desperate to find answers and ways to fix their broken homes, to end their exile, Mollymauk leaves with Caduceus, excited to be away from the more judgemental figures of the family. 

Caduceus lost his home at a young age, hasn’t known the peace and isolation that his early life brought in a long time and he works hard not to let the resentment over this bleed into his quest. There is someone responsible for these events and they can be found and it can be fixed, The Wildmother hasn’t led him astray in his quest for answers and thus, he keeps marching on. 

Him and Mollymauk meet with Yasha and Veth as they wander the land. Caduceus sees them as a sign to guide them somewhere, Mollymauk sees them as more safety. Veth knows that the Menagerie coast is where you go when you need to find people or information. 

Port Damali is bigger, grown by the desperate people fleeing the desolation of Vecna’s ascension. The city might as well be a pirate bay given how freely criminal elements wade through the local economy. From here, The Gentleman, Babenon Dosal, reign on The Myriad and organizes his ploys to maintain control. 

Marion Lavorre met an untimely death, trying to flee the city with her daughter, wanting to get away from the dangerous life that The Gentleman was imposing on them. The Gentleman’s brute for hire refused to kill the child and upon meeting the girl, Babenon could not bring himself to kill his own daughter. 

He had the brute assassinated and the child was kept hidden away like a secret of the highest importance, locked in a gilded cage. Jester was Port Damali’s little secret. She grew up Jester Dosal and at a young age, started to hear whispers responding to her silent plea for the loneliness to end. 

The Lord of Secrets himself took an interest in the girl’s existence and started whispering back when her prayers went unheard by any of the other gods. Keeping his identity a secret from her, instead encouraging the young girl’s curiosity to unhealthy levels. When she became of age, Vecna sent the girl out into the world, to find its secrets and learn about the places hidden in the dark. 

Jester remains a Cleric of the Trickery domain but unknowing of her true patron, sheltered from life outside of the walls she was kept in. While her father never knew how she did it, he certainly benefited from the strange things she seemed to learn left and right: Secret Alliances, plots, Hidden cache left behind by rivals.   


Eventually came a time where Jester’s curiosity drew her away from her father more and more each day, until she found other people looking for things in the city, too curious to resist the draw, she insisted on joining them.

Fjord grew up an orphan, hateful of the growing darkness that took away his parents. The orphanage that took him in evacuated eventually, as the town was burnt away to scourge it from the influence of Vecna after a cell of Vecnites was found to be operating in town. Fjord grew on the streets of Nicodranas, while the city was still standing, causing trouble for anyone he perceived to be working for Vecna. 

When the fall of the city finally came and the Undeads were invading the streets, Fjord sought out the necromancers responsible, seeking their deaths. He found the tombs from which the mass of undead escaped and entered, finding a man in dark robes examining a textbook in the depth of the tomb. His dagger struck true, ending the man’s life. His dying words would reveal the young half-orc’s mistakes. 

“It was fated that my life would forfeit here today, My Queen warned me.” Bearing no ill will to the young man for his mistake, for his own fate, the man beseeched The Raven Queen to guide the young man in life. 

His prayers were answered and the dagger that took his life began whispering, channeling power and guidance to Fjord. Granting him access to the powers of the Hexblade, in addition to his already growing array of urban survival skills. Guided by the whispers of the dagger, he escaped the fall of Nicodranas and escaped to the Menagerie coast, land of his birth. 

His new guide would take him to Port Damali, to take the life of a Cleric of Vecna operating within the city. Upon arriving at Port Damali, Fjord made contact with a local girl, a tiefling with blue skin whom he asked for information about a potential servant of Vecna. “He is a god of death and magic, the reason this world is corrupt.” he’d say. 

A whisper of a laugh danced on the wind at that moment, both of them heard it. Bonding over the event.

When Vecna ascended his mind quickly turned the wounded god Ioun and sent his agent after hers. It is difficult to hide from someone who knows every secret. From the mind of the Monk of the Cobalt reserve, he plucked the secrets and training and whispered them to others, more suitable candidates. 

Which is how Beauregard Lionett found herself brought into this story. Her family’s winery failed quickly when the lands on which they operated started to fail and dessicate as the town of Kamordah experienced a drought. Using their accumulated gold, the Lionetts made the move to a different kind of business: to save the city, they would move goods, transporting them back to their town in an attempt to save it.

Interested in something that would allow them to move easier through the world, a small subset of the Cobalt Soul Monks, servant of Vecna took advantage of the crisis to kidnap Beauregard’s brother to force the family to obey from the shadow. 

Beauregard offered herself in exchange for her brother and after beating down one of the monks with a wine bottle, the others agreed to the exchange. While holding her captive, Beauregard managed to sneak around and learn about about the group, learning about how they fight. After getting caught spying on them, they officially began their training. 

Her first assignment was to leave Kamordah with the next caravan out and infiltrate the city in their names, confident that Beauregard wouldn’t risk her family by disobeying. Unaware of the true nature behind the group that trained her, the woman becomes entwined with Fjord and Jester as they catch her trying to become familiar with the city. 

Both groups get together by chance over a brawl that breaks on the docks, Babenon Dosal thanking them for stopping a rather catastrophic loss. He takes them under his wing, unwilling to let his daughter get into trouble without exerting some form of control over it. 

**Author's Note:**

> I've been playing D&D and similar games for over 22 years, I'm absolutely overjoyed that Critical Role and others group are making this interest of mine such a shining, mainstream star. It's good to be part of this!


End file.
